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Tue Nov 14 11:23:34 CET 2006
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Yeh Akashwani hai...
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VANDANA SHUKLA
TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ SATURDAY, JULY 27, 2002 12:46:11
AM ]
In many a homes across India, 75 years back the day
began and ended with Akashwani. Today in this e-age
though the visual medium has stamped its dominance all
over, sound waves still continue to resound and the
popularity graph is growing. For this medium provides
a charm none other can match.
This week All-India Radio (AIR) completed 75 years of
service in India, having offered countless hours of
music, drama, entertainment, news, sports
commentaries, education views and talks by luminaries
to its listeners. The event, though, passed without
making much fuss.
“AIR has been like a parent; responsible, educating
and winning trust over the years, it enjoys a close
bond with its listeners. In an age when people don’t
write letters to even close relatives, we continue to
receive bagfuls, everyday,” says Station Director,
Chandigarh, AIR, Dr K C Dubey.
For loyal listeners, this is a time for a nostalgic
trip to a time when there was only the power of sound,
developed like an art to create complete impression of
events, without the aid of a visual. When listening
was believing…
“The shehnai refrain aired from AIR heralding a new
day every morning makes me swell with pride. Radio has
been a close partner on the front, it has played a
major role in our lives. When there were no amenities,
there was radio, the news from radio was like gospel,
and special fauji programmes always remained a great
hit among the forces,” says Brig Kuldeep Chandpuri.
The medium with large mass-based appeal is making a
come back. Like gramophones, people are retrieving old
radio sets placing them in drawing rooms as a fashion
statement.
“For our sponsored programmes with cash rewards we
received response from eight different states. The
phone in programme, Hello Chandigarh, is so popular
among the young. They don’t get a turn for months, as
our lines remain jammed with calls on Mondays,” says
Programme executive AIR, Poonamjeet.
“UNICEF conducted a survey where they found that 25
per cent people responded to polio plus programme
after listening to radio. Our commercial services are
cheaper than any other form of advertisement and that
accounts for their popularity,” comments Baljeet Kaur,
another programme executive.
>From rickshawallah and paanwallah’s small transistor
to expensive satellite radios, the unpredictability of
aired music and easy accessibility is helping radio
revive.
“Radio has immense contribution in shaping musical
sensibility of our generation. With the largest
archives of Indian music with them, AIR will always
remain a favourite,” says Kamal Tiwari, singer and
music composer.
“This was the golden era of sound, when Amin Sayani’s
Cibaca Geetmala, Devki Nandan Pandey’s news, Jasdev
Singh’s cricket commentary and Melville De Mello’s
January 26 parade commentary enriched our language and
imagination, that era is gone,” says Manjeet, a radio
buff.
How can listeners ever get over mornings that begin
with Vande mataram, move on to Sher-e nagma, evenings
filled with Jaimala and Hawa Mahal and end with the
old melodies of Chhayageet. The radio beckons....
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Grow young grey AIR
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SHABNAM MINWALLA
TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ SATURDAY, JULY 27, 2002 10:47:28
PM ]
On a rainy Saturday, 75 years ago, Bombay’s swingers
eagerly made their way to the Sir Cowasji Jehangir
Hall. The evening promised not just dinner and dancing
but an encounter with a magical technology — the
wireless.
Some distance away at Radio House in Apollo Bunder,
the new studio with its grand piano and unfamiliar
equipment was a flurry of VIPs and violins. At 6 pm,
Lord Irwin, the viceroy of India, stepped up to the
clunky microphone and inaugurated the services of the
Indian Broadcasting Company.
History, as well as some hiss and crackle, was created
on July 23, 1927. But crowds who had paid eight annas
and gathered at CJ Hall heard none of it.
A defective wire pooped the wireless party and The
Times of India reported: "The audience left the hall
disappointed".
The disgruntled crowds may not exactly have gone radio
gaga. But that brave, little enterprise survived, grew
into the omnipresent All India Radio (AIR) and is
today celebrating its Platinum Jubilee.
"From a single studio in Colaba we are now a network
of over 200 broadcasting centres," says Vijay Dixit,
deputy director general of AIR in Mumbai. "We cover 99
per cent of the geographical area of the country and
touch hearts and lives."
Certainly, for fishermen on the high seas and victims
of natural disasters, AIR remains a critical lifeline.
While corners of rural India, disdainfully bypassed by
roads, electricity and education, depend on their boxy
transistors for a glimpse of the outside world.
There is, in fact, a delightful story about farmers in
South India who grew rice following the instructions
of AIR experts. The name of this new variety? Radio
Rice, of course.
Indeed, even Mumbaikars who have succumbed to the
spicy flavours of FM and psychedelic charms of MTV
turn misty-eyed over the good old days of ‘Cricket
with Vijay Merchant’.
The AIR signature tune, played on the violin, viola
and tanpura, is braided into childhood memories — just
as the ‘Bournvita Quiz Contest’ is the soundtrack of
sepia-tinted Sunday afternoons. Ameen Sayani, one of
the best-loved voices of AIR, has his own favourite
memories.
"When I was in a boarding school in Gwalior in the
‘40s, we often sat in the common room and listened to
the ‘farmaishi’ programme," he says. "Our requests
never made it. But I remember the exciting feeling
that our names might be announced any minute."
The gradual spread of transmitters and broadcasting
stations ensured that on August 15, 1947, huge numbers
were able to participate as Pandit Nehru declared: "At
the stroke of midnight, when the world sleeps, India
will awake to life and freedom."
AIR’s most compelling hour came a few months later,
however, after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.
Thousands around the country tuned in to Melville de
Mellow’s moving, marathon commentary of the funeral.
The first I&B minister of free India should logically
have liberated radio. Instead, Sardar Patel promptly
banned musicians "whose private life was a public
scandal" and instructed national songs be played
instead of "sentimental rubbish and ridiculous
drolleries". B V Keskar took the extreme step of
banning Hindi film music.
The introduction of the entertainment-oriented Vividh
Bharati in 1957 and sponsored programmes in the ‘70s
did bring back audiences — but not the old ferment and
enthusiasm. And eventually, as The Buggles oldie goes,
"Video killed the radio star".
Old-timers, believe that a revival is possible. Says
Sayani, "If we wake up quickly enough we can still use
this powerful medium to create change — to drive the
economic, social, cultural renaissance that we
desperately need.
Regds
Alokesh Gupta
New Delhi,India.
________________________________________________________________________
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This group specialises exclusively on Broadcasting in India!
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Important Dates for Broadcasting by AIR :
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1927 - July 23 - 2002 : Platinum Jubilee of AIR
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